How to Deal with the Negative Nancy Commenters on Medium

Some people like to tear their fellow writers down — how do you handle it?

Paul Ryburn, M.Sc.

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cartoon image of a grumpy crab
Image by John Ayers from Pixabay

“You said in your article that (writer X) is someone who inspires you. From what I’ve read, (writer X) is not very talented.”

“You pointed out ways that humans can be cruel to each other. But we’re all human and we all have mental health issues. Your writing is anti-mental health and anti-human.”

“None of the exercises you recommend will actually make anyone a better writer.”

One thing I don’t do on this platform is leave negative comments.

It’s a personal choice.

I prefer lifting other writers up rather than tearing them down. There is so much awesomeness on this platform and I want to encourage even more of it.

However, not everyone feels that way. In this article, we’ll look at how to handle it when people dump their negativity in your comments section.

A couple of points I want to make before we get started: First of all, there are as many Negative Neds out there as there are Negative Nancys! I definitely did not mean to pick on the ladies in my title.

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Paul Ryburn, M.Sc.

I write about writing, ideas, creativity, homelessness, intuition, spirituality, life lessons. Ex-college teacher Twitter: @paulryburn